The Hancock T&T Block Association and Bed-Stuy Community Coalition presents our first full season aptly titled,
WELCOME TO YOUR BACKYARD 2017
We have now begun a new era in Bed-Stuy with community-run greenspace.
PARK HOURS: NOON TO 8PM MON - FRI and 10AM TO 8PM SAT & SUN (special events are exempt from park hours)CLICK FOR COMPLETE GATHERING / EVENT REQUEST INFORMATION & PARK RULES This is our calendar for daily park hours and highlighted events. We will produce a modest amount of feature events
during our 2016 and 2017 seasons. Our partners will be hosting all types of family-friendly educational and cultural events all
spring and summer long. Our partner events may or may not appear on the calendar.

The schedule will evolve into a rich tapestry of events that are always open to all...BUT...there will be plenty of quiet
time, because people need time to just chill and relax in an inviting and comfortable environment, which is what the
Hancock T&T "Community Backyard" Garden Park is all about; providing community-run and maintained greenspace.

CLICK ON ANY EVENT TO GET A POP-UP WINDOW WITH COMPLETE EVENT INFORMATION

---> FEATURING:
[during the day]
[1pm - 5pm ] A visual art exhibition by Harlem School of the Arts students, and Larry Weekes
[1pm - 5pm] An cultural booth provided by Madi Dangerously
[1pm - 5pm] Experience an educational video installation entitled “The Spirits Sing Across the Mountains” by Purpose Lounge
[1pm - 5pm] The New York City Department of Records will be celebrating
our ongoing partnership called "Flashback Bed-Stuy Then & Now."
There will be numerous historical pictures and documents to see,
including a number of large-scale images up to 12' wide.
[1pm - 5pm] Groove to a dj mix of deep soul and funk by live remix master DJ Zvetschka
[1pm - ?] Free healthy food sponsored by Foodtown Bedford-Stuyvesant [while supplies last]

[presentations]
[5pm - 5:15pm] The Freebrook Academy Quick Quiz for Bailey’s Cafe WITH SPECIAL PRIZES!!!!
[5:15pm - 5:30pm] The awarding of the 2017 Purpose Lounge Award for Excellence
[5:30pm - 6pm] A performance and artist Q&A by the Harlem School of the Arts student Aiyana Smash
[6pm - 6:45pm] An interactive community-sourced presentation for the
FLASHBACK: Bed-Stuy Then & Now project with the NYC Dept. of Records
[6:45pm - 7:15pm] Intermission
[7:15pm - 7:30pm] Community give-a-way sponsored by Royal Rib House
[7:30pm - 7:50pm] A discussion with artist and community organizer Aleathia Brown about hair politics
[7:50pm - 8:15pm] Special surprise presentation

Throughout the gathering, we are happy to announce that professional
photographer Sheridan Dean will be officially snapping pics for the
event.

---> This is not to be missed.

ABOUT THE EVENT
This day-long gathering is the next installment in our annual
celebration of liberation. We gather from many communities and
neighborhoods to share culture and art to celebrate and commemorate the
holiday known as "Juneteenth." June 19, 1865, Juneteenth, was the last
day of legalized human enslavement in the United States of America.
Though Juneteenth is more celebrated/commemorated in the southern United
States, the Bed-Stuy region has a long tradition in the human freedom
movement, including having direct connections to the legendary
underground railroad.

[a note from the executive producer] "It is important for the entire
world to celebrate this holiday because all who immigrated to the United
States from 1865 to the present would have come to a completely
different country where the poor mostly would have been owned by the
wealthy and elite of the US. It was the end of legalized enslavement of
anyone in the USA, not just the people of African descent that were its
last and longest enslaved people." Darryl Montgomery

OUR LAUNCH EVENT OF THE HANCOCK "COMMUNITY BACKYARD" WAS SATURDAY, AUG 15, 2015
It featured performances, presentations and a movie screening that began at dark [continuing our movie night series].
FYI - ALL PROGRAMMING IS FAMILY FRIENDLY AND THERE IS NO PROFANITY. BRING THE KIDS & GRANDPARENTS
---> to see pictures from the event go to www.facebook.com/bedstuycc

EVENT SCHEDULE Our last event for the 2014 season was: BED-STUY DO AND LIVE! [advertised promo below]

Saturday, September 20th at The Garden, 4pm to 10pm
324 Hancock St., [btwn. Tompkins & Throop Aves.] Brooklyn
Completely family friendly event: no profanity, sexual harassment, or poor behavior of any kind will be tolerated

After years of people seeing "Do or Die Bed-Stuy" as the essence of "keeping it real," we would like to present a different and completely positive reason to have pride in our proud community.

It will feature:
- an art exhibition featuring Cannon Hersey and friends
- the launch of our "Gateway to the Ancestors" fence evolving exhibition
- a meet and greet for the block and the Bed-Stuy Community Coalition- a picnic / potluck - at dark, an encore screening of the award winning documentary "My Brooklyn"
- an explanation of what the garden overhaul will look like

Be sure to join us, have fun, meet cool people, chillout and enjoy the garden, and get involved.

BTW - We also hope you support Creative Time and Weeksville Heritage Center as they present "Funk, God, Jazz, and Medicine: Black Radical Brooklyn," a walkable month-long art exhibition of four community-based art commissions by Xenobia Bailey, Simone Leigh, Otabenga Jones & Associates, and Bradford Young. Their opening party for the event is at 158 Buffalo Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11213 [contact info: 718.756.5250 or info@weeksvillesociety.org]

We are elated to have had our first
project be such a success. The goal of taking a space once left to its
own devices for years and transforming it into a proud community
space/resource has been realized.

Now we are ready to announce that we've made another incredible alliance
by bringing in a new partner that can help the Bed-Stuy Community
Coalition in our many efforts to develop showplaces in the Bed-Stuy
community. Anandi A. Premlall is now our Director of Garden Development.
Hailing from Georgetown, Guyana, she has years of experience in
spearheading projects as well as being an on-the-ground worker. She has
developed projects and relationships during her time as an administrator
at Earth Day NY, planted many trees working as a MillionTreesNYC Care
Captain, and is the founder of a grassroots initiative known as
Sustainable Queens (SustyQ), which promotes health and community
engagement in Queens by integrating artistic creativity, holistic
wellness practices, and ecological principles of building healing
spaces. She envisioned a "Queens High Line" once upon a time and has
been an enthusiastic member of the Friends of The QueensWay Steering
Committee ever since. When this Guyanese native is not playing with dirt
or crafting shenanigans through tactical urbanism; she devours books
and uses social media for good. This is no mere administrator. She loves
developing projects as well as evaluating resources and objectives, and
then getting dirty DOING THE WORK in and with the dirt/Earth, which is
the hallmark of the process and staff Bed-Stuy CC is developing.

We are also taking this time to put out a call to anyone in the region
interested in being part of our team. Our goal is for the BSCC to be the
spark plug in the engine of the community, getting blocks and concerned
people to start firing on all cylinders for the betterment of Bed-Stuy,
the community we all love.

If you are interested, please send us an email to s6kmedia@gmail.com with the subject line: "I want to be involved"

This is the flyer for our first event. It was an amazing experience and we look forward to the future.

Black Alliance for Just Immigration [www.blackalliance.org] and Crosspath Culture are our primary partners.